Palazzo Medici-Riccardi

Michelozzo di Bartolommeo
begun 1444 (elongated in the 17th century by the Riccardi family)

Facade

Built for Cosimo Vecchio, this urban palace in central Florence rises about 70 feet above the ground. String courses separate the three stories, each of which is progressively decreased in height and the surfaces of which become smoother with less visible joints.

The fortress-like appearance of the rusticated bottom story (imitating Roman monuments) and the entrance

The heavy cornice imitating classical molding details and one of the mullioned windows with Corinthian colonnettes and Medici symbols

The small central colonnaded courtyard with second story windows echoing the facade and (originally) a third story open loggia